Thoughts

Well, the bad news is, this weekend I went to my first Miami Dolphins game and man it was brutal. We tailgated with La Croix, Crab and Jerk Chicken (recipe below) while the smell of beer, French fries and pretzels wafted over our noses. By third quarter the sun was directly over us and my head was pounding. Had the Dolphins lost that day my mood wouldn’t have been pretty!

Before you eat like a maniac as your last pre-Whole 30 hoorah– keep in mind the effects of the food will come back to haunt you during days 3 and 4 of the program. In my case, I had a mac and cheese + general vacation garbage from my girls’ weekend in Nashville to thank for my pain.

On a positive note though, I think I’ve finally made it over the hump. I Woke up this morning feeling good, did a light workout and tackled a very hectic day at the office aggression-free. Since the first week or two is really the worst of Whole 30, below is a breakdown of how Jon and I are progressing so far.

Mood/ Morale: Day 4 was a struggle, 5 was decent and today was fine. Couple moments of weakness due to the amount of Halloween candy lurking in the office, but overall —pretty good! No further anger or headaches to report.

Body Feels (Me) : Unfortunately, I still have the same bloat and inflammation complaint I did last Whole 30. If your stomach is easily irritated you’re probably in a similar situation. Sweet treats, bread, corn, broccoli, rice, apples– sometimes I question if my body even knows the difference. Why stick with the restrictions of Whole 30? Because bloating aside, I think there is value in the long-term benefits of reducing my sugar intake. My father has diabetes type 2 and mom recently got diagnosed with pre-diabetes so I want to get comfortable with the idea of saying “no” to things down the road.

Body Feels (Jon): This guy has had some mysterious stomach issues for the past 3 days… Not sure if we want to blame this decision to eat the leftover on the tailgate stone crab for dinner, or possibly the amount of fiber he’s consuming via fruits and veggies… Either way we’re hoping this clears up in a few days!

Note: If you’re not in this Why-do- I- not- feel-amazing-even-though- I’m- playing-by-the- rules boat, then probably feel neutral (not a bad thing) or awesome—which is kind of a great thing! The rest of us will catch up to you at some point but right now just bask in the glory of knowing that if you stick with this, it’s probably going to be a breeze for you!

J E R K C H I C K E N

Create a marinade of jerk seasoning, dried onion, minced garlic, ginger paste, and coconut amino. Dump this into a zip-lock bag with the of chicken (I’ve used drummetts and flats in the past but you could really use any part you like). Let this marinate in the fridge for at least 2hrs (even better over night).